The Spring Court
'Basic Information'Edit Monarch: None currently; formerly Greaver Greensleeves (Voice of Spring) Center of Power: The Omni Hotel Hollows: *The Spring court's individual members may have Hollows, but the court itself does not maintain publically available Hollows. Court Focus: Socialization and diplomacy Freehold Role: *Maintain diplomatics with the mortal world *Plan an organize Freehold events 'Court History'Edit The Spring court is well suited to its role of maintaining diplomatic relations between the Freehold and the rest of the world. The Court considers relations both between changelings, mortals, and even other supernaturals to be a high priority. Spring maintains and monitors connections between the Freehold and the Mortals of the city but also is responsible for relations with other Freeholds. The Court of Spring is the only Court to actually have a emissary in the Freehold of Blue Eyed Oaks (Oakland) and boasts having representatives as far afield as the Freehold of the Rusted Shield (Detroit) and The Freehold of Distant Bells (one of the Parisian Freeholds). The Spring Court has always been the Court most concerned with relations, though initially this extended only to inter-changeling affairs. The original Queen of Spring in the Freehold was Alice of the Clear Eyes (Clear Eyed Alice), a potent diplomat whose words were supposedly sweet enough to stop the hearts of the unjust. It was she who set the course of diplomacy and power through words that Spring currently embraces. 'The Court Today'Edit The grestest shame of modern spring, though it oft goes unmentioned, is the loss of the vernal crown. The crown never manifested during the crowning ceremony that followed the exile of Lentil Jack. This has led to a host of rumors ranging from there being a secret king of Spring, the crown itself having been banished, to the rise to power of the Duchy of Flowers being responsible. Many assume that the formation of the Duchy, which Jack negotiated during the Winter before the first season of his rule, lends credence to the theory that it is the dissolution of the Crown's potency to the Duchal seats that has removed it. The Spring Court holds an almost obscene amount of power, though it is a subtle brand of influence that it wields. It recognizes the potency of secrecy, force of arm, and sorcery, but believes that true power lies in that which makes up the Wyrd itself, the interconnections between beings. Spring wields social connections and clout with skill that is every bit as deadly as that possesed by any Autumn Sorcerer. Foes of Spring quickly learn that connections and networking make a suprising number of things possible. Status in Spring is determined by how popular and well connected an individual courtier is. In general all courtiers are considered equal, with the monarch having authority over all those sworn to the season, and the Dukes and Duchesses serving as a sort of commanding elite laying somewhere between the monarch and the "rabble" of commoner Spring. 'Spring Orders'Edit Autumn recognizes the following areas of specialization in its Courtiers. *Diplomatists: Those who cleave closely to the original ideals of Alice and attempt to better the Freehold and the Court by forging and strengthening diplomatic connections between peoples and things. *Celebrants: Those who give themselves over to the pursuit of desire and who seek to spread joy and celebration to others, contains both entertainers and party planners. *Buskers: Administrators who handle the day to day banal planning and affairs that allow the wheels of the Freehold to continue turning. *Horticulturalists: Gardeners who express an interest in growth and change, whether chaotic or carefully pruned and monitored. *Inquisition: Something of a secret, this order is quite small. It consists mostly of those who concern themselves with other supernaturals, their monitoring, and occasional destruction. Formerly boasted tight connections to Autumn. *Artful Loungers: Spring enforcers trained in various combat methods. A relatively scarce subset of the court it includes both the few remaining Knights of the Ivy and the less well known Assassins. It is assumed by many politically savvy individuals that the recently revealed Knitters of Stacey Wallerby are counted among this order. Spring once contained additional orders, though they are now largely extinct as the world has moved on. *Knights of the Ivy: Enforces of spring, bound tightly to idealistic views of chivalry and knighthood. Hopeless romantics to contrast summer's wroth. *Hospitalers: A once highly regarded subset of Spring, they focused on the healing talents of the season using mundane means to bring aid, both martial and medical to allies in war time conflict. Disbanded by mutual consent after the War of Eyes. 'Spring Factions'Edit Spring was once tightly united under the Crown always led by a popular and involved monarch, this changed with the rise of Lentil Jack to power. Hoping to defer his own responsibilities Jack invested a great deal of power into an advisory council, dubbing such empowered changelings as Dukes and Duchhesses. Each Duke swears fealty to a flower, which grants them some of the Authority of the Vernal Crown and a larger measure of Authority than other Courtiers enjoy. The creation of the Duchy of Flowers is the reason behind the factions that currently exist within Spring, as many have opinions relating to these individuals who are more equal than their equals. *Duchy Spring: Those within the Duchy Spring faction support the authority of the Duchy more than they do that of the ruler of the season. Duchy Spring, unsuprisingly, includes the vast majority of the current Dukes and Duchesses with few exceptions. Many of the most potent and influential movers and shakers within Spring belong to this faction. Perhaps the most fearful rumours to rise about this faction are claims that there has been discussion of doing away with the proper monarch of Spring entirely. Since the start of Greaver's reign this sentiment has become less and less hidden, with power plays on the part of the Duchy becoming ever less subtle. Though it is difficult to tell with true accuracy, it is likely that Duchy Spring is the most influential faction currently active in Spring. *Crowned Spring: Crowned Spring is the logical response to the machinations of Duchy Spring. It is composed to Changelings loyal to and supportive of the Crown of the Vernal Monarch. Though it numbers several influential Spring courtiers that are not in the Duchy among its numbers, these mostly represent the old guard from the days before Jack. The rest of the faction is composed mostly of idealists who resent the Duchy and their almost open level of corruption and self-serving schemes. The greatest weakness of the Crowned faction is that they lack a truly competant leader to rally behind, and try though Greaver might, he simply does not seem to have the sheer cunning and ruthlessness needed to mobilize them. *Viridian Spring: This faction views the petty interfactional politics of Spring between loyalists to the crown and the Duchy as being both irresponsible and irrelevant. They remove themselves entirely from these affairs in hopes of dealing with other far more pressing concerns. This faction loudly proclaims that Spring is shirking numerous other responsibilites, they list the rapidly splintering nature of Autumn, the enroachment of the Blue Eyed Hags forces, and even the recent horrors coming to pass in China town as diplomatic issues that Spring should be leaping on. These courtiers have mobilized their numbers in an attempt to staunch these concerns, but they are the smallest faction by a large margin. They are fully aware that they are simply bailing water in a sinking ship and fear that by the time the rest of Spring pulls their heads out of their asses it will be far too late to make things right..